Metal Allegiance at House of Blues Anaheim 2024
January 25th, 2024, Anaheim wrapped up the first day of NAMM festivities with the 10th Anniversary of Metal Allegiance at House of Blues. This was Metal Allegiance’s first gathering at House of Blues Anaheim since 2020, making their return all the more grand alongside the 10th Anniversary celebration. The event was sponsored by Dean Guitars, ddrum and Heavys Headphones, with openers Dieth, Held Hostage and Quor.
The Metal Allegiance lineup has reliably consisted of “The Core 4” – Alex Skolnick, David Ellefson, Mark Menghi, and Mike Portnoy – from the start, but as Metal Allegiance is known for their live lineups of surprise guests, you never know who might make an appearance at their shows. Special guests this night included: Chuck Billy (Testament), Bobby Blitz (Overkill), John Bush (Armored Saint), Chris Poland (Megadeth, Kings of Thrash), Phil Demmel (Machine Head), Doc Coyle (Bad Wolves), Brann Dailor (Mastodon), Gary Holt (Exodus), Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Hel Pyre (Nervosa), Troy Sanders (Mastodon), and Wayne Lozinak (Hatebreed).
Chuck Billy, Bobby Blitz, John Bush, and Troy Sanders led the rotating vocalist lineup throughout the show, sometimes teaming up for covers, like when Billy and Blitz performed “Hellraiser” (Ozzy Osbourne) together. Some other covers that made the setlist were “Wrecking Crew” (Overkill), “Kill The King” (Rainbow), and “Wake Up Dead” (Megadeth), as well as plenty of Metal Allegiance original tracks, including “Bound By Silence”, “Can’t Kill The Devil”, “Mother of Sin”, and “Pledge of Allegiance”.
Chris Poland and David Ellefson were both following up their performance as Kings of Thrash at the Metal Hall of Fame the night before. Metal Magnitude was on the red carpet for the Metal Hall of Fame, and you can find that coverage here: https://metalmagnitude.com/metal-hall-of-fame-2024-feature-and-red-carpet-interviews/.
Not just one, but two members of Mastodon took the stage for this show, Troy Sanders and Brann Dailor. Plus, Wayne Lozinak of Hatebreed was in town, promoting his new signature Dean Guitar, which he showed to Metal Magnitude at NAMM here: https://youtu.be/WFOn9YiZTuI?si=cXhF9VzynEXaNt0r.
After an incredible 16-song set full of the constant energy of a dizzying lineup rotation of legends, the final encore brought every performer back on stage, for three iconic covers of “Damage, Inc.” (Metallica), “Damage Case” (Motörhead), and “Iron Maiden” (Iron Maiden). Before that, the main set closed with a reminder to “Pledge Your Allegiance” to Metal Allegiance, and keep coming back for more.
Keep an eye out for updates from Metal Allegiance via: https://www.metalallegiance.com
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